


Open Bottles

by Patricia_Sage



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bonding, Campaign: Balance (The Adventure Zone), Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Good Friend Magnus Burnsides, Good Friend Merle Highchurch, Magnus Burnsides Misses Julia Burnsides, Minor Julia Burnsides/Magnus Burnsides, Post-Episode: e041-049 The Eleventh Hour Parts 1-9, Sizzle It Up with Taako (The Adventure Zone), Spoilers for Episode: e041-049 The Eleventh Hour Parts 1-9, Taako Angst (The Adventure Zone), Taako Backstory (The Adventure Zone), Taako Has Issues (The Adventure Zone), Temporal Chalice (The Adventure Zone)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patricia_Sage/pseuds/Patricia_Sage
Summary: As the table fills with empty bottles, Merle’s voice gets louder, and Magnus’s hands become clumsy. Taako’s cheeks and the tips of his ears are flushed, and Magnus can’t stop sneaking glances. Julia’s cheeks used to do that after too much wine. That’s why Magnus feels a flutter in his chest when Taako laughs. That’s why.[The boys get drunk and talk about what was offered to them in Refuge]
Relationships: Magnus Burnsides & Merle Highchurch, Magnus Burnsides & Merle Highchurch & Taako, Magnus Burnsides & Taako, Magnus Burnsides & The Director | Lucretia, Magnus Burnsides/Taako, Merle Highchurch & Taako, The Director | Lucretia & Merle Highchurch, The Director | Lucretia & Taako
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	Open Bottles

As the table fills with empty bottles, Merle’s voice gets louder, and Magnus’s hands become clumsy. Taako’s cheeks and the tips of his ears are flushed, and Magnus can’t stop sneaking glances. Julia’s cheeks used to do that after too much wine. That’s why Magnus feels a flutter in his chest when Taako laughs. That’s why.

Avi will be so pissed in the morning when he sees they drank all of his secret stash.

There’s no need for Merle to cast _Zone of Truth_ tonight. The combination of alcohol, camaraderie, and the thrill of survival make them chatty and uncharacteristically open with each other. Although Magnus keeps a tight lock on what he saw on the parchment.

“Man, I didn’t think I could get used to the feeling of dying,” Merle says. Taako hums in agreement.

Magnus puts his bottle down. “Hey…why didn’t you guys accept the Chalice’s offer? Must have been pretty tempting.”

Merle examines his wooden arm in the kitchen’s lights. “Sure, it would be nice to get my arm back, but…” He shrugs. “She told me I would be whole again. But I _am_ whole. I have Pan, I have a purpose, I can still fight and heal – ”

Taako snorts. “Love to see that sometime.”

“Hey!”

There’s blustering chatter for a moment but it dies down. Magnus sighs, caught up in his memories again. “I almost took her offer,” he admits.

Taako’s slim hand rests on the table. He moves it closer to Magnus’s, not touching but nearby. “She gave you the chance to save your family, right, big guy?” the wizard asks. Magnus nods. “Why didn’t you?”

Magnus takes another drink, finishing the bottle. “She wouldn’t want me to. Julia. She’d want me to keep fighting.”

He expects the conversation to end there. Taako doesn’t like to share much of his past or his feelings, and his friends don’t like to pressure him. Magnus and Merle look up in surprise when Taako begins to speak. “That old girl showed me something. Something that…changed everything. Well, not everything. But. I learned that it wasn’t my fault.”

Magnus doesn’t like the clouded expression on the wizard’s face, the furrow in his brow, the pain in his eyes. His ears are low and his dark hands are tense. Magnus leans closer in a way he hopes is comforting. Taako continues, speaking as if he’s not aware that he’s still talking, “I could have saved a lot of lives with that big bad cup. Just because I didn’t poison them doesn’t mean I didn’t feed it to them…it doesn’t mean I didn’t run. But I didn’t want to – ” Taako’s voice cracks and he looks up from under the brim of his hat, seeming to come back to self-awareness. He wipes his eyes.

“Didn’t want to what, bud?” Merle asks gently.

Taako frowns and takes a long drink. The bottle clinks onto the table and he inhales deeply. His words come out forcefully, as if he’s making himself say them. “Well, my dudes, I…” His voice cracks. He grips the Umbra Staff tightly. “I didn’t want to be alone again.”

Magnus can’t hold himself back. He leaps from his chair and hugs Taako, pressing his face into the fabric of his huge hat. Merle is there too, hugging the wizard around the waist from the opposite side.

“No, no, no – fuck off, that’s enough.” Taako protests, but he doesn’t try too hard to push them away. They both know that, if he were serious, he would not hesitate to blast them with _Magic Missile_. “Get your tree arms off of me, both of you!”

“Tree arms?” Magnus asks as they release their wizard from the embrace.

“You know, like, the size of tree trunks and whatnot,” Taako mumbles, “Shut up!”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Merle interrupts, “I’ve got, like, one thing that’s my thing. It’s my thing.”

“Yes, okay, Merle, you’re the tree arm guy, don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

“You’re never going to be alone, Taa-” Magnus starts, but the wizard’s hand covers his mouth forcefully.

His angular nose is almost touching Magnus’s nose. “Shut the fuck up, Magnus.”

The fighter’s protests are muffled by his friend’s hand. His face feels uncomfortably warm. Taako squeezes his cheeks and shakes his head a little bit. “Shut. Up.”

Magnus nods.

In the silence, Merle decides to give the comforting a try, “But, seriously, we’ll always – ”

The Umbra Staff clatters to the kitchen floor as Taako’s other hand clamps over Merle’s mouth. “Nuh-uh.”

Lucretia walks in at that moment and freezes awkwardly in the doorway. “Oh, um…” The boys look up. Taako doesn’t remove his hands from his friends’ faces.

“’Sup, Director?”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm writing for a pretty dormant fandom so please review if you read this lol


End file.
